MUMBAI: A sport that began as an accidental invention in a Mexican backyard has captured the imagination of athletes, entrepreneurs, and sports enthusiasts across the world. It has also found its way to the city of dreams.
The Asia Pacific Padel Tour (APPT) Mumbai Open made its India debut this month at Bandra’s St Stanislaus School, marking a significant pitstop for the sport in the country. With top international talent, a $6,500 prize pool and global ranking points on offer, the tournament drew a lively crowd.
The venue itself is a spectacle: sleek courts surrounded by glass walls and metal mesh fencing tucked inside the heart of Bandra. There’s music, energy, and an unmistakable vibe of something fresh. Yet for most Indian players, this is a re-entry point into elite sport.
“At 32, I thought my sporting career was over,” said Jenai Bilimoria, a former tennis player. “Padel brought me back into the field again. It’s easier to get a hang of it compared to other racquet sports.”
Vaibhavi Deshmukh, part of the Indian contingent that won bronze at the Asia Pacific Padel Cup (APPC) in Bali last year alongside Bilimoria, spent nearly a decade competing in junior and international tennis circuits. “Padel felt like a natural progression,” she said. “And the tournament in Bali really set the ball rolling for us.”
Invented in 1969, padel rapidly grew across Europe and Latin America. India entered the scene much later in 2016 when Sneha Abraham and her husband Ronnie Sehgal, who ran a tennis academy in Bengaluru, discovered padel’s popularity in Spain. They built India’s first padel court in 2017 and helped establish the Indian Padel Federation the same year. Today, there are over 100 padel courts across India.
Nikhil Sachdev, co-founder of Padel Park India, a leading padel company, believes India has the perfect ecosystem for padel to thrive. “We’ve launched our own circuit, the Indian Padel Tour, and have successfully hosted six editions so far.”
At the APPC, newcomers India outperformed other emerging nations to finish third. The success led to India bringing home an APPT tournament featuring over 100 players, ranging from amateurs to professionals and from countries like Spain, Argentina, France, UK, USA, Russia, Thailand and Singapore.
Padel’s rise
Is it squash in the sun or tennis with walls? Neither, but padel hits the sweet spot between both.
The scoring system mirrors tennis (the Golden Point rule is an exception), though the game plays out on a smaller court enclosed by glass and metal mesh walls. This design means shorter sprints, longer rallies, and non-stop action, as the ball stays in play even after ricocheting off the walls.
There are no big booming tennis serves; just an underhand one as the focus shifts to strategy, reflexes and teamwork. The racquets are unique too: shorter, perforated and without strings, offering greater control and smash-friendly swings. The ball is tennis-like but with slightly lower pressure, allowing for slower, longer and more tactical rallies.
Padel nails the balance between intensity and accessibility. It’s easier on the body than tennis, quicker than squash, and way more social than either. With its doubles-only format, it is built for camaraderie.
“The big boom for padel in most countries came during Covid (pandemic), when people couldn’t see each other,” David Maxwell, director of the APPT, said. “Recently padel beat golf to become the number one networking sport.”
Game, Set, Switch?
Many former tennis players the world over and in India are now jumping ship, finding new passion — and success — in padel.
Sharmada Balu, a former national tennis champion, is building her padel resume at 31. So too is Aryan Goveas, once among the top Indian juniors who played current world No.1 Jannik Sinner back in 2018.
Aryan Hemdev, competing in the APPT Mumbai Open, puts it down to padel being the perfect mix of squash and tennis. “If you’ve played either sport at a high level, you’ve already picked up 50% of what padel requires. And it takes less toll on your body, so it becomes a more inclusive sport, especially for former athletes.”
Max Pickard, APPT player, coach and host of the Humans of Padel podcast, said, “Even at a beginner level, you can jump into a tournament like the APPT. That’s the beauty of padel, it’s competitive but accessible, and because it’s less strenuous on the body, it welcomes players of all ages, sizes and skill levels.”
The road ahead
For all its growth, padel in India is still battling teething issues. The biggest hurdle? Infrastructure. While new courts are popping up, they’re still concentrated in metro cities. Coaching is another challenge, with India still building expertise there. And then there’s the problem of visibility.
“Even pickleball gets way more coverage online,” Hemdev said. “Padel doesn’t yet have that kind of buzz in India and that needs to change. Once the infrastructure builds up, the marketing can follow.”
“For a sport to truly take off, it has to exist at three levels — recreationally, professionally, and in the public eye,” added Sachdev. Padel has already established the first two, but is lacking in the third. Corporate backing has already started pouring in, and according to Sachdev, this is just the beginning.
Involvement of sporting icons — Pullela Gopichand has stepped in as the chief advisor to the Indian Padel Federation — can only drive the momentum. “Big names can really move the needle for padel in India,” said UK player Ed Stoner. “MS Dhoni’s a huge fan of padel, which is great for visibility here and in the UK, even David Beckham has taken to the sport. That kind of star power makes a difference.”
On the global stage, franchise-based padel is booming. The recent Hexagon Cup in Madrid saw team owners like footballer Robert Lewandowski, tennis icon Andy Murray, the Rafa Nadal Academy, Hollywood star Eva Longoria, and F1 driver Pierre Gasly investing in the sport.
Sachdev believes it’s only a matter of time before India follows suit. “India will also have franchise-based padel very soon.”
Padel is no longer just a hobby. For many athletes, it’s a second career. For investors, it’s a business opportunity. And for India, it’s a fresh sport that could increasingly find its place.
